With the inability of the government and the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to reach a compromise on negotiation, the doctors have embarked on an indefinite nationwide strike on Monday.
According to the executives of the association, doctors involved in the ongoing covid-19 treatment across the country are exempted from the industrial action for two weeks.
The President of the association, Aliyu Sokomba, made this known while addressing a press conference in Abuja.
According to Sokomba, “The union has decided to exempt its members working in various coronavirus (COVID-19) isolation and treatment centres across the country. This followed the virtual extra-ordinary National Executive Council meeting of the association held on Sunday,” he noted.
He said the industrial action became inevitable as a result of the failed series of meetings between the doctors and the Federal Government in the last two weeks.
“The deplorable state of hospitals and the lack of protective equipment for members of the union treating COVID-19 patients, this has exposed many of their colleagues to coronavirus and resulted in the death of some of them,” he said.
The doctors embark on the industrial action after they warned last week that they would take what they described as “the painful decision” following the inability of the government to meet their demands.
